Tesla buys German wireless charger firm Wiferion
US electric car maker Tesla has acquired German wireless charging firm Wiferion.
The deal, highlighted in a commercial register listing in Germany, sees Wiferion become Tesla Engineering Germany as part of Tesla International BV.
Wiferion is based in Freiburg and develops inductive wireless charging systems for industrial trucks, autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) and autonomous mobile robots (AMR / CoBot). It was founded in 2016 by four former employees of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and has sold over 8000 of its etaLInk systems.
Last year the company signed a deal to use WiTricity’s wireless charging IP in industrial applications, although this will not necessarily transfer across to Tesla for wireless charging of its electric cars and trucks. However it could be used for the industrial equipment and AMRs that Tesla builds and uses to assemble its vehicles.
“Already today, Wiferion’s etaLINK wireless charging solutions are powering thousands of mobile robots around the globe. Having access to WiTricity’s patent portfolio will allow us to further sharpen our value proposition and accelerate the adoption of wireless charging in industrial automation,” said Florian Reiners, CEO of Wiferion.
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